Land Mines

We don't talk much about the scale of human suffering in Southeast Asia that came from U.S. intervention. American involvement in the Middle East could usefully be informed by the Asian experience, however: namely, that war has long-lasting consequences for the local populations, to say nothing of broader impacts.

The landmine that took my legs was indiscriminate. It easily could have taken the legs of my Somali driver, another passerby, or a child. The conflicts in Burma and Syria will be similarly callous, scarring people in ways we can see and ways we cannot.